St Fagans railway station

Former railway station in Wales

51°29′05″N 3°16′08″W / 51.4848°N 3.2688°W / 51.4848; -3.2688Platforms2Other informationStatusDisusedHistoryOriginal companySouth Wales RailwayPre-groupingGreat Western RailwayPost-groupingGreat Western RailwayKey dates1 April 1852opened1959closed to freight10 September 1962closed to passengers

St Fagans railway station served the village of St Fagans in South Wales. The station was on what is now the South Wales Main Line.

History

Given that it served a rural area, St Fagans was a fairly substantial station, with two long platforms and large station buildings constructed in stone. The station was the nearest to the Wenvoe Iron Mine, which was active from 1859 to 1864 and generated significant freight traffic at St Fagans.^[1] A signal box was built in 1889. Initially, the station had no footbridge, and passengers had to cross via a ground-level crossing made from sleepers. A metal footbridge was eventually added in 1931.^[2]

Decline and closure

St Fagans, like many stations, fell upon leaner time in the postwar years. The station was destaffed from 6 April 1959, and closed to goods in the same year. For the last few years of passenger operation, only trains between Cardiff Clarence Road and Pontypridd via Creigiau called at the station. When the service was withdrawn in 1962, the station closed.^[3] A signal box and a level crossing on the line still remain at St Fagans, but the station itself is long gone.

New station

It has been proposed in recent years for a new station to be built at St Fagans, as bus services from the centre of Cardiff are seen by some as inadequate, and that a new rail connection would greatly improve access to the Museum of Welsh Life. Support for the project has been given by former first minister Rhodri Morgan.^[4]

References

^ North, F. J. (1962). Mining for Metals in Wales (PDF). Cardiff: National Museum of Wales. pp. 16, 60. ISBN 978-0720000214.
^ Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2009). Cardiff to Swansea. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 9781906008420.
^ Horton, Philip (2013). The Beeching Legacy: South & Central Wales and The Marches. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 61. ISBN 9781857944334.
^ Gaskell, Simon (9 March 2010). "Calls for disused St Fagans train station to be reopened". Wales Online. Retrieved 24 April 2017.